Setting Smart Site Gols
Why Set Site Goals?
by Mat GreenfieldIn this article we’ll discuss the two key reasons for developing specific goals for your website.
When I sit down with companies to talk about their web strategy, one of the first questions that I ask is “Why did you originally develop your site?” Often, there’s a moment of uncomfortable silence before someone replies, “because our competitors all had one”, or “our customers kept asking for our web address”, or one of my personal favorites “to get our name out there”.
In addition, some companies build a website for branding purposes, or to provide information to potential clients, thinking that one-way communication is a return on investment, and therefore a valid goal. I’m afraid that I disagree. Using a website merely to provide information is like using an airplane to drive around town without ever leaving the ground, you’re missing the real opportunity to help your business ‘take-off’ by creating opportunities to follow up with qualified prospects.
After all, a website is a corporate resource, and like any other resource it must provide a return on investment, or some kind of conversion. That return should be immediate and measurable, meaning that the bottom line for any website is – how specifically has the website grown my online business today/this week/this month, and so on.
Furthermore, the issue of identifying goals is a critical one for two reasons. First, goals help you to determine what should or shouldn’t be included on your site. In a sense, you actually build your site backwards – start with your online goals and then flesh out the structure and content from there. This can actually remove much of the politics of website development. As you use your goals document as a set of criteria for determining site content, there’s much less room for disagreement. For example, instead of executives engaging in power struggles about who decides what is included on the website, reviewing site goals will allow any particular suggestion to be evaluated in an objective way – does this content help accomplish any of these goals?
Secondly, having specific goals allows you to measure the effectiveness of your site after it’s completed and live. That’s key because if you can’t measure conversion, then improving it becomes much more problematic. So you’ll find that measurement and improvement are the keys to that ROI you’re looking for.
I think the bottom line on goal setting is that if you never identify the target, then you can’t expect to hit it. Likewise, developing a website with only fuzzy goals about educating your target audience won’t allow you to effectively design, measure, or refine your site. In addition, you’ll be missing the awesome potential of driving qualified leads and customers to your in-box 24x7.
Defining Site Goals
Most small business websites have a combination of goals, bit it’s important to prioritize them so that the appropriate amount of focus can be placed on them during the site creation process, and so that results can be accurately measured and compared once your web design project is complete.
For a small business website, there are three primary goals:
- generating leads
- selling products via e-commerce
- generating referrals
The reason that I say this is because these are the only conversions that lead to real dollars. So, they’re the only way for your website to produce a return-on-investment. I think I’ve said before, small businesses don’t have time or money to waste on ineffective marketing, you need an ROI, and you need one fast.
I do understand that websites can accomplish other less-tangible benefits for a small business. I call these secondary goals. Typical secondary goals include objectives such as:
- building credibility
- supporting existing customers
- and, recruiting partners or affiliates
I consider these goals secondary because if this was ALL that your site did, then you’re really missing the real potential of a company website.
Defining primary and secondary site goals is relatively easy. Ask yourself “what would I like my site to do for me that it’s not doing today?”
Think things through from your own perspective – your website is a company resource, and should provide a real ROI. Be a little ‘self-centered’ as you identify what you want your site to accomplish. We’ll get around to making your site interesting to visitors a little later. For now, just focus on what you want.
Now, I understand that everyone wants to increase their sales, but let me provide a word of caution. Not every product or services lends itself to purchasing on the web. Some examples include products with a high cost, professional services (like CPA’s and so on) that require some level of interaction, complex products that have involved selection processes (although Dell has done a fairly good job of changing this).
The bottom line is probably this – if it seems unlikely or unreasonable to expect visitors to enter their credit card to purchase your products or service, then shoot for lead generation as your primary goal.
These goals will be used extensively later as you consider site structure, messaging, calls to action, and other critical elements of an effective site. Your secondary goals are likely to translate into single pages, whereas the primary goals will account for the majority of the site structure and content.
Now answer the following questions:
When someone visits your site, what action(s) would you like them to take? (prioritize primary goals)
What secondary functions does your website need to perform? (such as providing investor information, listing partners, etc)
Do you also imagine existing customers using your site? If so, for what purpose?
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